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With Postseason.TV, fans get all the angles

With Postseason.TV, fans get all the angles

Adam Ottavino, Chris Nelson and Dexter Fowler share their thoughts on how they rely on MLB.TV to keep up with all that's going on around MLB

By Mark Newman
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MLB.com |

Taylor Chilcutt has an October tradition, one that extends from his days as a Texas Tech student to post-graduate life now across the Red River, in the front office of an Embassy Suites hotel in Norman, Okla.

For the third year in a row, Chilcutt is about to watch his Rangers on Postseason.TV, as the road to a World Series title gets under way for 10 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams.

"This year, more than any in the past, having Postseason.TV will be very important to me because with my job, I am always on the go with my laptop and iPhone," Chilcutt said. "So having MLB.com and Postseason.TV with me wherever I go will allow me to watch my Rangers make a charge for three straight World Series trips.

"The different camera angles are one of the best parts, and my favorite is watching the Rangers' dugout. If you have ever seen [Rangers manager Ron Washington] in the dugout, it's worth having a camera on him alone."

Indeed, you can watch the most exciting part of the sports calendar year from numerous angles thanks to Postseason.TV, which will show live companion coverage of the two Wild Card knockout games on Friday, all four Division Series starting on Saturday and the American League Championship Series -- all postseason games broadcast by TBS and MLB Network.

Signups are under way at a one-time cost of just $4.99 for the service, which lets you control up to 10 different TBS or MLB Network camera angles for each game. The service is available to U.S. and Canada residents only.

The Wild Card games are an addition to this year's Postseason.TV slate, and they are scheduled for Friday, with St. Louis at Atlanta starting at 5:07 p.m. ET and Baltimore at Texas getting under way at 8:37 p.m. The Division Series will get under way on Saturday, and the American League Championship Series is scheduled to open on Saturday, Oct. 13.

Now in its fourth year, Postseason.TV delivers a customized and interactive online viewing experience with up to 10 different camera angles, synchronized with the live network-broadcast audio, free of blackouts. Just drag-and-drop a camera angle, and enjoy the annual tradition that is Dugout Stalking. Feel the fine line between watching players like Joey Votto, Ryan Zimmerman, Pablo Sandoval and Matt Wieters watching other players ... and feeling a tad surprised when you see that player suddenly glance at your camera.

Watch any of the available camera angles or up to four different angles simultaneously in a multi-view option, making you sort of a control-room producer.

This is not the produced broadcast that TV viewers are accustomed to seeing, but rather a modern way to get more out of baseball's most important time. And did we mention it is under five bucks? Chilcutt is not the only one who might find it worth at least five bucks just to watch Washington in that excitable dugout-cheerleading mode that is now October habit.

Live batting practice is one of the coolest advantages of this access, an extension of the TBS and MLB Network coverage that you obviously don't see in its entirety on television. Get a feel for which players seem most locked in and go ahead and predict a homer or two.

Other benefits include a pitch-by-pitch widget, streaming tweets (use #MLB or #Postseason or your favorite team's official hashtag) and clickable linescores.

While Postseason.TV is available for U.S. and Canada customers only, MLB.TV Postseason is also now available to those outside those countries at a one-time cost of $24.99. International customers can watch every postseason game live or on-demand, just as everyone could do out-of-market throughout the regular season. You'll get HD quality, picture-in-picture (and multi-game views), DVR controls (pause and rewind), a choice of home or away team radio broadcasts, clickable linescores, in-game highlights and Twitter integration.

For fans on the go, Postseason.TV will offer portability via MLB.com At Bat 2012, the best-selling suite of mobile apps developed by MLB Advanced Media, by providing mobile access to the same live camera angles, the quad mode option and network-broadcast audio. MLB.com has lowered the price of the At Bat mobile app to $4.99 for the postseason. Postseason.TV will be available on a variety of devices.

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. Read and join other baseball fans on his MLB.com community blog. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.